FO: Hermione's Gryffindor Striped Hoodie

Hooray! I finished! I think it came out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.
Joe & I went to Lancaster, PA for the weekend to try to catch a little glimpse of Spring (because Lord knows we won't be seeing it in CT for a while). We found this alley near a little fabric shop I wanted to go to.

I thought it just screamed 'Diagon Alley,' and we both agreed this was the perfect backdrop for the FO shoot.

I haven't written up the pattern yet, but I do have it in chicken scratch form, ready to go as soon as I get a little pocket of time to type it up. I had lots of fun designing it. I'm not sure I'm going to design all the time now, but at least i know if I find a sweater I MUST have, I can whip it up whenever I want.
STUPEFY!!!

I'm such a dork.

And, We're Back!

Joe had to go to Vegas on Friday for a conference, and at the last minute, he asked if he could take the laptop and my camera. I said, "SURE!!" before I realized that OMG, those are my main blogging tools! Whoops! Not very much goes on when he's away anyway, as I make sure to watch girl TV/movies the ENTIRE time he's gone. But one thing did happen that I felt awful that I couldn't blog about. I got my package from Maryanne! I won the kit to make the Lana Knits fingerless gloves (with hemp and cashmere yarn-yum!), but it came with lots of bonus goodies!

I got a little magnet, a handmade soap, lots of Dove chocolate hearts, a really sweet card, and a set of those interweave wordy magnet sheets. Thanks so much, Maryanne! I love all of it!

I forgot to take pictures of my WIPs, but Hermione is so close to being done that I think I'll just do a FO shoot in a couple days instead.

Look who else wanted a do-over!

Thanks inept cookie place! You redeemed yourselves! :)

Valentine's Day Do-Over

Despite the awesome start to Valentine's Day, the rest of the day did not go so well. I got home to find a very cranky Joe screaming at a very inept cookie bouquet delivery establishment on the phone. Apparently, I was supposed to get a cookie bouquet by 4PM, and they just couldn't handle that request. He also had a little bug or something, so he had no appetite for the surf & turf I made for us. He felt REALLY bad, and requested a do-over on Saturday. I reluctantly (HA!) obliged. ;) He was dying to go on a road trip because he just got his car back after a month of being without it (car accident; he's fine). I suggested WEBS, and HE suggested WEBS and Yankee Candle village. Woo-hoo!! I ordered some Blue Sky Cotton for a sweater for him, and got some of WEBS' Deerfield yarn. It's something like 80/20 alpaca/silk, and it is sooooo soft (and on sale, btw). Yankee candle was awesome (winter clearance; yeah, buddy!), dinner was awesome, and renting the Heartbreak Kid was a little disturbing, a little pornographic, but still funny. I'd say Joe's do-over was a big success!

I bought the Deerfield yarn to make some fingerless gloves, and before I knew it, I had fingerless gloves!!


They're Maine Morning Mitts from Clara Parkes' Book of Yarn, but the pattern is also available here for free.
I worked on Hermione yesterday, but I have to rip all of my progress on the sleeve. It's just way too big. No big deal. It's just one day's worth of knitting. I can handle it. :)


In other news, I won another contest!!! Am I the luckiest blog contest winner or what?! I asked Maryanne of Knittymuggins a question for her Un-blogiverssary, and her hubby drew my name out of the Ikea pot of awesomeness! I won this pattern and yarn to make them with! Yay!
Wow, that was a really big post for me! Thanks for listening to me ramble if you made it this far!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Rockin' Weekend

I had such high hopes for getting a lot done this weekend. Joe did all the "chores" on his day off (Thursday) so I just KNEW I would kick butt on the sewing and knitting front. I saw a cute skirt I wanted to make on Robin's blog on Friday, so the plan was to make the skirt Friday night & Saturday day (after my haircut), then work on 'Hermione' Sunday. Well, I managed to get the haircut:

But, then I went to a friend's house down the street from the hair place that had invited me and another friend over for brunch. These are her kitties watching squirrel TV:

After many, many mimosas, her boyfriend convinced us to play Rock Band with him, as we had gotten curious what all the "jamming" coming out of the living room was all about. That's where I made my mistake. FIVE HOURS later, we were still playing, and Joe was calling me wondering if I was coming home for dinner. OOPS!!! I often complain that my brain only remembers useless things like song lyrics and produce codes (from my days as a grocery store cashier). But, I have finally found a good use for all those song lyrics! I almost ran right out to buy an X-Box, but then I remembered I like to be productive now and then, so it was probably a bad idea. I did make a little progress on Hermione, but not as much as I had hoped.
But, hey, rock stars can finish their sweaters any damn time they want, right?!

FO: Cobblestone

The verdict is: He likes it!

Details
Pattern: Cobblestone from Fall 07 Interweave Knits Magazine
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted, color 521, Charcoal
Needles: Size 9 Knitpicks metal options
Size: XL (56 inch chest on FO)
Mods: None
After I finished, I immediately started looking for the next thing to knit him, but quickly gave up on that idea when I remembered how long it had been since I knit MYSELF something. I whipped out my calculator and Barbara Walker book, and worked the numbers for my "Hermione" sweater, and cast on quickly before I changed my mind. I didn't get too far, but here's the progress:

And, to refresh your memory, here's what it's supposed to look like:

Her's has set in sleeves, and I'm doing raglan, but that's the only difference I plan on having. I can't wait to get home and work on it!

Look who's blocking!!

Cobblestone is done! Hooray! Woo-hoo! Hallelujah! (Can you tell how freakin happy I am to have this beast off my needles and onto my beach towel?)
The last week or so of knitting this nearly 2 pound monster has required some reinforcements:

These things work great, but they are only for one time use, then you toss them. But my wrist was soooo thankful for a little releif, that I didn't care.

Hopefully this weekend it will be sunny for at least 5 minutes so I can get a decent picture of him in it!

Well, It's Been a Week...

And I have no real progress on Cobblestone, so, why not do a meme? This one is supposed to be one of those email ones, so a couple of the questions don't apply. But, I saw it on Robin's blog & thought it would be fun to play too.

What time is it? 10:49 am

What's your full name? Jennifer Russell Sterlein

What is the most recent movie that you have seen in a theater? Walk Hard

What are you most afraid of? Joe dying (I don't know why, but I am SO paranoid about this)

Place of birth? Virginia

Favorite food? Steak & grilled veggies

What's your natural hair color? Red

Ever been to Alaska ? No

Ever been toilet paper rolling? Oh, yeah

Love someone so much it made you cry? Yes

Been in a car accident? Yes

Croutons or bacon bits? Mmmmm. Bacon.

Favorite day of the week? Saturday

Favorite restaurant? Madame Jeanette's in Aruba

Favorite Flower? Dahlias

Favorite sport to watch? Football & Nascar (what? those guys are HOT!)

Favorite drink? Diet Dr. Pepper

Favorite ice cream? Pistachio and/or Heath Bar Crunch

Disney or Warner Brothers? Disney

Ever been on a ship? do battleship museums count?

What color is your bedroom carpet? Light gray

How many times did you fail your driver's test? None

Before this one, from whom did you get an e-mail? Robin

What do you do when you are bored? Read blogs, surf Ravelry, Zappos.com, eat

Who will respond to this e-mail the quickest? n/a

Who is the person you sent this to that is least likely to respond? n/a

Who is the person that you are most curious to see their responses? n/a

Favorite TV show? Survivor

Last person you went to dinner with? Joe & Joe's Parents

What time do you get up? 8:00 am

What are your favorite colors? Purple, black, blue

How many tattoos do you have? 0

How many pets do you have? 1 cat and one fish (used to have 5 fish, but the other 4 'mysteriously' died, all on the same day)

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? chicken

What do you want to do before you die? go to Europe

Have you ever been to Hawaii? No

Have you been to countries outside the U.S. ? Yes

How many people are you sending this e-mail to? just posting to blog

Time this survey ended? 11:12 am; my boss kept making me do WORK during it

Feel free to copy and paste and play along!

WIP Thursday?

After seeing Karen faithfully do her WIP Wednesday posts, I totally intended to start doing them too. But, the only thing I was working on last week was my secret project. Then, this week, I forgot to take pictures of my WIP, so that didn't work either. So, I said screw it. I'm back to working on Joe's Cobblestone sweater monogamously, and it. is. taking. forever. Last night I got 2 rows done. TWO! But, he's excited to wear it, so I hope to start chugging a little faster this weekend.

In other news, I won a contest on Marjorie's blogiversary! Check out the loot:

It's Lino-Fino in a great shade of purple. I'm thinking of using it for a cute little crochet tank top or maybe a tee if I have enough yarn. Thanks again, Marjorie! I love it!

Secret Knitting Revealed

Ok, that's a little incorrect; it's actually secret crocheting. I know the blog's been pretty quiet lately, but I couldn't show or tell what I was up to! What torture! Especially when you see what I have been working on:

I'm not trying to brag, but those are the cutest damn things I have ever made. Here's the close-up of each:


FYI, they're from Pepika, and the patterns were so well written. I highly recommend.
Why the heck would I make a Mamma and Baby owl set? For (blogless) Audrey's baby shower, of course! She seemed to likey:

My favorite gift she got was the little sheepy play mat:

So cute! I think I might get one for Rocco!

How many can you handle?

31

Best of 2007

I saw this new meme going around on Lolly's blog (It's from Knitlit originally), and I wasn't going to do it until I found myself coming up with answers without having to think too hard. It's just a questionnaire; no rules; no muss; no fuss.

Jenny's Best of 2007 awards:

1. your best FO of the year
Hands down, my Two Toned Shrug from Fitted Knits. I wear it so much, as it goes with everything. The yarn is great, the fit is great, and it was super easy to make.

2. best FO of the year made by a blog you link to
I would have to say Jessica's Tree Jacket. I know dozens of bloggers were inspired to make this after seeing hers, including me. I didn't even like it before I saw hers. Now it's a major player in my wardrobe rotation!

3. best yarn you tried
I have two that I really liked that I had never tried before; one sweater yarn and one sock yarn. The sweater yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. Pilly? Yes. But, get a little fabric shaver, and it will stay looking nice day after day.
The other yarn that I LOVED was the Painted Sock by the Painted Sheep. I'm not just saying that because I know the owner of the company, either. It was great to work with and didn't pool or make weird stripes like say, Lorna's Laces. The big thing for me with sock yarn is that it not be too grabby on the needles. I'm a tight knitter, so it sucks to have to force my stitches to the end of the needle. I didn't have this problem AT ALL with the Painted Sock. It was smooth knitting the whole way, and it made for very speedy socks.

4. best new book/mag/pattern of 2007
Book: Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel. Magazine: Interweave Knits. I know Interweave isn't new, but I think the editor change made it a much improved product.

5. best new knitting technique or gadget you tried in 2007
Technique: Fair Isle knitting. Gadget: Knit Picks Inter-changeables. They qualify as a gadget, yes?

6. top 5 inspirations--what five things inspired you the most over the past year?
In no particular order:
-Sexy Knitters Club. Being part of this KAL has really gotten in the way of my queue getting done, but also has gotten me to make some pretty darn cute sweaters.
- Fitted knits KAL. Same reasons as SKC
- Robin! Whenever I need a good kick in the pants, I go check out all the stuff she's up to, and am instantly inspired. I have never seen someone get so much done! What can I say, girl? You rock!
- Ravelry. I am eternally grateful for this site. Whenever I'm bored to tears at work, I just click around on Ravelry for a while, and I get so inspired to make just about anything. Honestly, what did we ever do without it?
- Finally, I have to give Joe credit for this one too. If he didn't watch such crap on TV, I wouldn't get half the stuff done that I do. Thanks for never giving up the remote, babe! ;)

7. designer who most amazed & inspired you throughout the year
I have to go with Stefanie Japel. I had no idea I would like her book as much as I did. I was especially amazed that she sent it to me for free as a thank you present!

8. knitting resolutions for 2008--what's next for you and your blog?

My goal for this year is to knit at least half of my Ravelry queue. I especially want to get Clapotis and Salina done. I also NEED to destash in a big way, so that's a little goal as well. I'm not making any pledges or promises, but I have enough yarn to keep me busy for quite some time, so I'd like to see how far it can take me. Also, I can't find a pattern I like for the Hermione sweater, so I'm going to attempt to design it myself. Wish me luck!

Santa Came! Santa Came!

OK, so I know everyone else already posted their Christmas pics, but I've been on Virginia time, so everything was going a little slower than usual (especially my parent's internet connection. Yikes!). Now I'm back in CT, and ready to show all my gifties. First, I'll show what Santa Joe brought, pinking shears and the Harmony Needle set (YESSSSSS!!):


I got other stuff too, but that's all the blog worthy stuff. Next, my Secret Santa from work got me all these goodies:



Lantern Moon bag, Brittany crochet hook, Happy Feet sock yarn, and the Secret Language of Knitters book. She also got me a Creative Fibers gift card too. I don't think she got the memo that said the SS limit was $10, even though she was the one that sent the memo. Moving on, this was from my BFF:

It's a sock kit from Solitude Wool in Virginia. Her MIL is a knitter, so I think she had a little helper pick it out. Whatevs, I scored! This is what I gave her (No, I didn't finish the blanket):


(the teapot from her china pattern plus the matching cozy.) Per Blogless Audrey's suggestion, I needle felted the little swirlies on the already felted cozy--which I had never done before. What a great idea that was! So easy and WAAAAAY better than duplicate stitch. Thanks, Audrey! :)
I finished mom's socks in the car on the way down to Virgina:

They are knitty's toe ups made with Painted Sock by the Painted Sheep. They were a big hit. Too big of a hit, in fact. She asked for more for Mother's day. I politely told her to not hold her breath. ;)
This is the scarf I knit for Joe's daughter.

It was not as big a hit as the socks. It's still sitting on the steps with the crap her grandmother bought her. Oh, well. 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

What's one more tiny project?

I was almost done with my Christmas knitting. I only needed to needle felt a little embellishment onto my friend's tea cozy; I'm through one of Mom's socks, I can probably finish the other one in the car on the way to Virginia; Olivia's scarf is done, wrapped, and ready to go. Then, I remembered this 'little' giftie:

I was supposed to give this to my friend as a housewarming gift 2 summers ago. Then, it became a possible wedding gift for her that fall. Then, I vowed to have it finished for Christmas. That didn't happen. So, here we are, a year and a half later, and I am vowing yet again to get rid of this thing. I completed the squares and the horizontal seams this weekend. Hopefully I can get the rest done this week. It's only 100 or so ends to weave in. Simple, right? ;)

7 Random *Christmas* Facts

I was once again tagged for 7 Random things, and since the knitting blog fodder around here is pretty non-existent these days, I figured I'd play along. I decided to do a theme list like my tagger, Robin, did. This now makes 22 random things you guys know about me...

1. I L.O.V.E. Christmas. I love the decorations, the baking, the shopping, the songs, the craziness and everything about it. I hate to hear people complain about the commercialism, the money strain, blah, blah, blah. I only celebrate as much as my Christmas savings account will allow, and encourage others to do the same.

2. I found out about Santa at a pretty young age. It was the big Cabbage Patch doll year, and I overheard my brothers ask my mom if Santa was bringing me one, and she said say yes. Whatevs, I got my Cabbage Patch baby. I was happy.

3. Joe has asked me like 20 times if I want the “Journey diamond” necklace for Christmas this year. NO! A hundred times, NO!! I know he means well, but if I don’t get those GD Harmony needles, I’m going to poke him in the eye. ;)

4. My brothers’ wives get in a little spat every year about who brought more stuff to Christmas dinner. I find this immensely entertaining. They always try to drag me into the fight, but I never take the bait. If they only knew how much that shrimp cost me every year, they would shut the F up.

5. When we were little, my brothers & I would go downstairs at like 4 AM and get our stockings and bring them back up to my bedroom and open them and get all high on chocolate. We weren’t allowed to wake my parents until the sun was up, so we would take turns opening one thing each to make it last longer. This is honestly one of my favorite memories as a kid, as it was one of the few times we all got along whilst unsupervised.

6. I secretly like it when people ask for hard to find gifts that I have to go 10 places to find. It’s like a little project. I’m not kidding.

7. The thing I look most forward to at Christmastime is Joe's family's celebration on Christmas Eve. We stuff ourselves silly, do secret Santa, have a Yankee swap, have way too much dessert, and Joe's mom even fills a stocking for every single person there. It's so much fun. I hate to be a traitor to my family and all, but we just don't know how to party compared to these Italians!

I don't want to tag anyone--the holidays can be stressful enough without an extra meme to do, but it was pretty fun; give it a try if you have time!

Christmas Knitting

After declaring (rather loudly) that I would not be making any knitted Christmas gifts this year, a couple people hinted that they can't wait to see what I'm making them, so I have caved. Nothing major, just a few small items, but caving nonetheless. I almost finished a scarf for Joe's daughter, finished the knitting part of a felted tea cozy for my BFF (I only call her that b/c she hates that I call her that. LOL).
I haven't started my mom's socks, though. I can't figure it out; why don't I want to knit for her? Is it because she never wears what I make her? Is it because she knows how to knit, but refuses to apply herself and learn new techniques beyond knitting and purling? I know she'll like whatever I make her, and there's never been a more appreciative recipient of a hand knitted gift, but the fact that she won't wear/use what I make her because "it's too pretty" drives me absolutely insane!!

On a lighter note, here's what's been making me all giggly lately:
He practically LIVES under there lately. So cute!

New York City!!

Part 2 of my birthday present every year is a trip to NYC to go shopping and sight seeing. After reading a very positive blog entry by Stephanie (and just about everyone else that's ever been there), I had to check out Di Fara Pizza in Brooklyn. Let's just say that I will be back many, many times (OMG, the square pie!! I'm still purring about it). Mr. DeMarco was not the cranky old man I was expecting from other blogger's testimony. He was cheery, sweet, and almost chatty with me. Joe thinks he must have a thing for redheads. MMMM. Maybe he's onto something. ;)
Then, we went to Purl. I forgot to take pictures of the yarn I bought, but it's just cascade 220 & some more Jitterbug. I think we can officially confirm I have a Jitterbug problem.
Then, we stalked the Waldorf Astoria for a while to see if any NASCAR drivers were hanging out there since their awards ceremony is tonight. We saw Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, and Dale Jarret. If you're not a NASCAR fan, I'll just say these are pretty big names. We were stoked. We swung by M&J trimmings at some point. I didn't get anything, but that place is just amazing:

We went to top of the rock next:

It's the roof of Rockefeller center and it has AWESOME views of the city & beyond. It's 17.50 per person and way less crowded than the Empire State Building. I highly recommend it. And, no trip to NYC is complete without a cheezy self poitrait in front of the tree at Rockefeller center!

Thanksgiving & birthday recap

We always fry a turkey on Thanksgiving. This year was no different:

The finished product:

Mmmmm. Deep fried goodness. Yes, it's worth all the work. Yes, it will be the best thing you ever tasted. Feel free to ask any more questions you have. I am now an expert at this.

Then, today was my birthday:

Joe totally surprised me with a new dress form:

I named her Scarlet. What else could I possibly name her, right? I thought he was a good boy and got this sucker on the black Friday special at Joann's. Um, I would be wrong. My little honey bunny paid FULL PRICE for this. No coupon. No special. I wanted to kill him. He promises he will go to Joann's tomorrow with the coupon and convince them to refund the difference. It really was a great surprise, though. And I thought I was getting the Harmony needles from Knitpicks. Ha!

When was the last time you went wahoo?

Alternate title: Holy Mackerel!!
We're back from Aruba. SO. MUCH. FUN. We told Joe's parents to just go ahead and section off the timeshare in their will to go to us. We have found our second home. So, here's what the post title is all about:

Joe is so proud of it! It is a wahoo, which we are told is some kind of mackerel, but it tasted way better than mackerel. I caught a few small tuna, so we had the wahoo one night and the tuna the next. We only took a small chunk of the wahoo, but cracked up when we saw that the special that day at a local restaurant was fried wahoo salad. Here's the tuna at Chez Jenny:

I never realized how much of a difference fresh caught fish makes. It tastes a zillion times better than anything I ever got from a fish market.

Anyway! We sat by the pool a lot, shopped a lot, ate a LOT, drank a lot, and had the best time ever. We both agreed it was better than our honeymoon, which is really saying something. As promised, here is my dress, modeled:

I thought my plane knitting was pretty funny, so I thought I would share...
This is how much plane knitting you can do when you are all jazzed up about your impending vacation:

And, this is how much plane knitting you can do when you are so tired from said vacation that you could pass out at any second:

Well, I better go get started on my 354 unread blogs on bloglines. Forgive me if I don't comment! I'm tired!